1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus which can be reduced in bulk by improving a structure of a photosensitive body unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional image forming apparatus is an apparatus that prints an image onto a printing medium according to an input image signal. A conventional image forming apparatus can be classified as a printer, a copying machine, a fax machine, a multi-function printer which has multiple functions of printing, scanning, copying and faxing, etc.
An electrophotographic type image forming apparatus is a particular type of image forming apparatus that scans light to a photosensitive body charged to a predetermined electric potential to form an electrostatic latent image on a surface of the photosensitive body and supplies a developer to the electrostatic latent image to form a visible image. The visible image formed on the photosensitive body is directly transferred onto a printing medium, or is transferred onto a printing medium via an intermediate transfer unit. The image transferred onto the printing medium is fused to the printing medium through a fusing process.
In the printing operation, the visible image on the photosensitive body is not totally transferred onto the printing medium or the intermediate transfer unit. A portion of the developer remains on the photosensitive body. The residual waste developer on the photosensitive body is collected by a waste developer collecting device, and is stored in a waste developer storage container.
An example of an image forming apparatus having a waste developer collecting device is disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2005-0005045.
The disclosed image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive drum, a cleaning unit to clean a residual waste developer on the photosensitive drum, a conveying pipe to convey the waste developer removed from the photosensitive drum, and a collecting container to store the waste developer conveyed through the conveying pipe.
The photosensitive drum and the cleaning unit are provided in one unit, and are mounted in a main body of the image forming apparatus. The waste developer collecting container is provided separately from the photosensitive drum unit, and is mounted in the main body.
However, because the waste developer collecting container is mounted in the main body, separately from the photosensitive drum unit, and the conveying pipe is mounted between the photosensitive drum unit and the waste developer collecting container, the disclosed conventional image forming apparatus has a complicated inner structure, and thus has difficulty in being reduced in size and therefore remains bulky.
Also, when the photosensitive drum is worn or the waste developer collecting container is filled with the waste developer, the disclosed conventional image forming apparatus inconveniences a user by forcing the user to replace a photosensitive drum and empty a waste developer collecting container separately.